


Thick Water

by Legate_of_Apples



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Bloodbending, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-01-31 00:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12664941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legate_of_Apples/pseuds/Legate_of_Apples
Summary: Seventeen years after the fall of Fire Lord Ozai, the effort to build Republic City is in full swing. Numerous towns grew around the place of its construction, housing those inspired by Avatar Aangs vision, as well as those looking for a better life in a post war world. One such person is Ivetok, who fled his native Northern Water Tribe escaping from his curse of bloodbending and those who would exploit it. However, his new life may be in jeopardy, as forces within the Four Nations strive to retain the status quo, and Ivetok becomes the nexus of one such power struggle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

 

The blood was everywhere. It seemed to cover the walls, to run down the muddy streets in small rivulets, a spiderweb of lost lives. Ivetok squeezed his eyes shut, but the nauseating sensation simply assaulted his other senses. Instead of seeing the glistening moisture, he smelled the salty, metallic fluid, the smell seemed to envelop his tongue, mixing with the taste of bile. The throbbing of a thousand hearts blocked all sounds, a cacophony underscored by a slithering sound of arteries. 

 

_ Not now, it's too soon.  _ Ivetok thought, as he desperately tried to regain control. A sudden, angry hiss and a jab to the ribs, strangely, did the trick. He opened his eyes, and, for a terrifyingly long moment, could not make out the person. All he saw was liquid. Was blood. 

 

“What are you doing, Ive? Snap out. The boss will see.” The voice and eyes were fierce, yet the face serene and passive. Zhi A, his colleague and coworker at the inn, rarely showed emotion, and when she did, it was precisely directed. Just like her elbow jabs. 

 

“Yes, yes, I’m fine”. Just as the words left Ivetok’s mouth, he felt a burning pain on his left hand. He must have been pouring tea when the… episode happened. He gritted his teeth and shot Zhi A a pleading look through tears of pain. She nodded sharply as he started to run to the back of the inn. 

 

* * * 

 

Ivetok never thought muddy water in a decrepit bucket could bring him such serenity. The cold helped to sooth his burn, true, but his mind needed it much more. To feel water, even impure, was so sweeter than what he just went through. Even the smell of the stables was prefereble. His fingers danced in miniature waterbending forms, washing the stress away. It is a terrible curse indeed, he thought with bitter humor, that it makes me long for mud and the smell of manure…

 

“You think he’s ok?” a hushed voice asked outside the stable doors. Taelin, Ivetok recognized another colleague. He could not make out the answer. Probably Zhi A then. The slight, orange-eyed Fire Nation woman was far more discreet than Taelin. The tall man could serve as a model image of a proper Earth Kingdom youth, despite his early balding head, and was subtle as a propaganda poster. 

 

“I’m just concerned, you know? How long has this been going on? Every month he becomes unbearable, has this pained expression, as if he was a g… ouch!” Precise. Jabs. Ivetok smiled, though it scared him that he was so transparent. He composed himself as the door opened, trying to look more ashamed than afraid. 

 

“You ok Ive?” Taelin asked, with what seemed as genuine concern. 

 

_ I don’t deserve your care _ “Yeah, just spaced out and burned my fingers, that’s all” Ivetok answered. It wasn’t even a lie, he thought, a bit surprised that it mattered.

 

“Good”, Tae smiled, though he glanced at the hand in the bucket. “People are still at work, so you take your time, Zhi and me will fill in. 

 

_ I’m a monster… _ “Thanks, I’ll take a few moments then, just to be sure the burn’s gone”

 

“Sure, just yell if you need anything” Taelin answered and moved to leave.

 

_ You should all despise me _ . ”Actually, there is one thing. I’ve the night shift tomorrow, but there appeared… circumstances” he attempted the best embarrassed smile he could muster.

 

Tealin stopped abruptly. “Weeeeelll, ok, I think it's ok if the boss is cool with it”. He turned to leave again, and Ivelok was just about to let out a silent sigh of relief when Tae turned yet again. 

 

“What’s the occasion though?” He asked nonchalantly.

 

Ivelok’s chest constricted. “It’s…. like… you know… there’s this girl”. He caught the first excuse that came to his mind. He looked at Tae in desperation.

 

“I see”. The tall man finally left, though the intensity behind his last words startled Ivelok for some reason.

 

After a minute he returned to the main hall of the inn. The “Bent Beam” was popular among the construction workers working on Avatar Aang’s grand project - Republic City. A shift has ended and the tired men and women piled in, demanding tea, beer and foods from all around the Four Nations. Ivelok moved to wait on the new customers, to serve tea and sometimes snacks from his home Northern Water Tribe, that he prepared himself. They were his customers, he thought with conviction, his fellow citizens. They were more than a resource to use at his whim, more than puppets to dominate, more than blood to be bent.  _ If then knew, they would kill me. Demons should be killed.  _ The full moon was tomorrow, and he had to save them from himself. And himself from them.   


	2. Chapter 2

As Soo Zee finished shift at the construction site, she once again realized that she could grow to like this job. There was, not surprisingly, something structured and ordered about constructing large buildings. It required an overarching design, managing a large number of people and guiding them towards a common goal, specialists, compartmentalization… almost like a military or, she thought longingly, a kingdom.

There were however two… complications, ones that Soo Zee knew she would be unable to compromise upon. One - she already had a job she liked very much. Two - while she liked building tall houses just fine, building a city was something different. Especially a city on land first stolen from the Earth Kingdom by the Fire Nation, only to be given out, after the fall of Fire Lord Ozai, as a playground for Avatar Aang to test out his pet project. As if the injustice of a continued occupation was not enough, the Avatar, instead of returning the world to a political balance, as a proper Avatar shoud, decided to create this… Republic City, for citizens of all four nations to mix and mingle like some stew. How this was to bring about world peace Soo Zee had no idea and was not interested in learning.

 _A Dai Li agents work is never done_ , she thought as she arrived in front of the ‘Bent Beam’, and if she succeeded in her mission the homes she helped build would house not Republic City citizens, but proper Earth Kingdom subjects.

* * *

The hours after the second shift ended were always the busiest, but Zhi A liked them best. The noise and the workload was overbearing, true, but there was something soothing about it. It always made her order her thoughts, made her forget herself, made her focus on the here and now. At times, she though of her grandparents, and how they would react to her role here.  _A common serving girl_ _!!_ Her grandfather, the Fire Navy commodore, would barely contain his rage, while her grandmother would look at her with dissapointment, like she supposedly looked at Zhi A's father, her son, when he married. Here, she was not occupying, like the last Fire Lord had envisioned, but serving. And that always suited her just fine. 

Well, almost always, she thought with some frustration. For some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about Ivetok’s episode from yesterday. Their rising intensity and regularity troubled her, though not because she cared for Ive that much, even though he made great tea. No, what she cared for more was stability, and such events disrupted it. Plus, even though she tried to block it out, they made her recall a part of herself she tried to avoid, the part created when she moved to the occupied Earth Kingdom territory as part of her "patriotic duty". The guilt in his eyes, the self-loathing, the confusion, th….

“Excuse me miss!”

Someone caught her sleeve, and it took all of Zhi A’s self control to avoid a catastrophe. Her hands instantly felt cold, a feeling she welcomed as she looked at the woman letting go of her sleeve. She was older than Zhi, maybe ten years, and everything about her screamed construction worker. Her black hair was cut short, her olive skin made even more than from the work outside, her arms muscled, her hands calloused.

“Can I help you…?” Zhi A asked in a flat, professional tone.

“Actually yes” the older woman smiled sweetly, “I would like to ask if you know if this young colleague of yours will be working tomorrow night.”

"No, as far as I know. Sorry." What a strange question question, Zhi A thought. Ive had fans now? And older women at that? Who knew...

“Ah, what a pity, I simply adore how he brews tea, and wanted to bring some friends, you see, I guess the tall Earth Kingdom boy will be here this evening, then?” this surprised Zhi A, and her expression seemed answer enough for the woman, as she smiled again and thanked her.

As Zhi A returned to the counter, she looked at Ivetok, his hands deftly filling pots with tea leaves and warm water. The stress on his face, in his shoulders, was plain to see. As she passed him, she glanced at the strange woman finishing her tea, and squeezed Ive’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Take care tonight”, she said, and instantly regretted it as Ivetok shivered as if in panic. Fortunately, he quickly composed himself and flashed Zhi A a quick, desperately insincere smile. She rolled her eyes. “You are hopeless”, she said as she entered the kitchen, hoping she did not make a number of terrible mistakes in the last couple of minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

On evenings like this, during the full moon, Ivetok did what he could to focus his thoughts, not to let them roam. To be strong, not despairing. This time, the good news was that he succeeded, the bad was that he focused on what Zhi A said to him.

_Take care tonight_.

He doubted, he hoped, oh so desperately hoped she did not know just how much he needed to take care. As he walked to his home, he tried to banish the memory by smiling as much as possible. This was not her fault, she meant nothing by it. Well, maybe apart from sincere concern. There was something about Zhi that made him feel she could understand him, which was both comforting, and utterly terrifying…

Greeting his neighbours, the young man ascended the ramshackle stirs, though “climb” would be a more accurate word. While most of the inhabitants of Sunny Rock were builders or architects of sime sort, they put most of their creative energies into Republic City. The towns around it, be it for craftspeople, construction workers, or merchants, were thought of as temporary. Their buildings were always sturdy, often functional, rarely comfortable, and never pretty.

So was his flat, he thought tiredly as he threw himself on the cot, closing his eyes and steadying his breath. So were its people, Ivetok thought, as he realized how much he grew fond of them and his job, even of this place, despite the perpetual mud and the slippery, rotting wooden boards used as sidewalks. They all had a sense of purpose, a dream they shared and strived to build with their own hands.

These thoughts comforted him, as he sat in a meditative pose. He focused on his day, went through all the good and bad moments. A customer that looked at him as if he were some freak. He smiled at the thought. He got that a lot, with his Northern looks. But then, he balanced this moment with a girl that basically stared at him with a smile, totally unabashed. He focused on the sounds the people made, their steps in the rickety house. He thought of the friends he made, the solemn Zhi A, the ever-cheerful Taelin… He focused on his breathing, ignored the sound of blood… his blood, the blood of those around him.

His attention slipped, and all his reality were beating hearts. Throbbing, flowing, seething…

_No…_

His senses flew outward, reflexively feeling, assessing. He felt them as a catlizard would feel the vibrations of the steps of a herd of cattle. He felt like a predator, and it sickened him to his stomach. What scared him was not that his only purpose would be to abuse and exploit others, but that he would be forever apart, forever alone. Prey would sense the predator.

_I am not a monster…_ And _they_ were not just water to be sapped, puppets whose only purpose was to be used. But it would be so easy to use them, to grab hold of their bodies and move them as Ivetok would see fit. The only thing he could not control was their eyes. Like the eyes of the bandit that tried to kill him. Like the eyes of his father… 

No, he had to think of them as people. They were not… _People are just tools Ivetok, a resource._ His grandmother’s voice came to him, unbidden.

“No, they have a common goal!”, Ivetok said the words out loud, bit his tongue in frustration. _They do not serve some tyr…_

_Some Avatar, then, Ivetok?_ , the voice of the dead woman returned, mocking. _He makes them dance to his will, my child. They dance without ever hearing the music. Is it at all different from what we do? Are we not better, in fact? At least we do not steal their minds like he does…_

“NO! You’re wrong!” he shouted, punching the uneven floor. The pain focused his thoughts, the repeated motion comforted him, but the moment he saw his blood, he whimpered and crumpled down onto the floor he just he just brutalised. As sobs wracked him, he decided that crying himself to sleep is not such a bad option. At least his energy would be directed inward…

“Mister Ivetok! Please open!” A shout outside, a voice he recognized. A young boy from the inn. For a second, he reflexively sensed him, _touched him_ , felt his blood outside… A few quick breaths, he wiped his face, and as he opened the door, the words forced out of a panting body confirmed his fears.

“Mister Ivetok, you must return to the Bent Beam, something bad has happened!”


	4. Chapter 4

_Remember, the job of an agent is eighty per cent waiting, fifteen percent paperwork, and five percent fieldwork_. The words of her late instructor came to Soo Zee as she slogged through the muddy streets. No, they were not streets, just places between buildings.  Even the most outer rings of Ba Sing Sae looked better than this, and the ever present mud did not help. However, her work in the capital of the Earth Kingdom taught her the valuable skill of seeming to have a purpose, while being bored out of her mind. 

But no matter. Soon Tealin would be leaving his house for his shift, and then Soo Zee would intercept him, incapacitate him, and then she would see what happens. Either way this should force some reaction out of Ivetok, make him slip, lose his cool. All she would need to do later was to exploit that, come in as his saviour…

“Excuse me, ma’am” a male voice called. _Oh, goodbye boredom._

“Yes?”, Soo Zee turned, employing her most innocent and surprised smile. She was no beauty that could smite men’s hearts with a look, but deception was not only about the pretty face.

There were four of them, one a woman, two amateurs, as they could not hide their satisfaction on capturing their prey. The woman and the man seemed more experienced, as the place of ambush was well chosen - near a small gap between buildings, into which a victim could be easily dragged. Which gave Soo Zee an idea.

“You need flunkies to overpower a lone woman like me?”, she looked at the older man, definately Earth Kingdom, most likely with some military background. “You need them to hold me down for you?”, the man narrowed his eyes, nearly cringed. _Bingo_ , thought Soo Zee and attacked.

The first few moments of the fight confirmed her suspicions. The two boys showed promise, but not enough to block Soo Zee’s quick jabs. As they fell, out of the fight, she focused on the older pair. The main question was, were they benders. The man could be an earthbander, the woman though, could be anything. She had the mongrel look of someone whose parents came from different parts of the world. _Aang would be delighted_ , the agent thought.

Soo Zee prefered to hide her own talents if possible, especially when fighting. This gave her the element of surprise, but the price was giving the enemy the first strike. _Can’t be helped_ , she thought, as she assumed the low, wide stance favoured by Earth Kingdom martial artists. She would play defensively, only to deliver the finishing blow when an opening presented itself. _The Earth needs to tremble but once_ , her instructor liked to say.

The man quickly moved to intercept her, but what troubled her was _how_ he did so. His technique mirrored hers almost to the minute movements of the forms. Which most likely meant not only that he was a bender like her, but that he received the same training. Meanwhile, the woman stayed in the background, looking for a good moment to flank her, her movements impossible to read. This would not do, the agent thought. She had no time to play, nor the luxury to interrogate her opponents after the fight.

With her hands, Soo Zee delivered a feint that made her opponent move back a step. _Line_ . As he did so, she shoved her left foot forward, bent the mud from beneath the man’s feet. _Hook_ . He tried to regain his balance, which would be easy if Soo Zee did not stomp with her right foot, hurling a solid blob of mud towards the back of his head. _Sinker_. Well, she thought with satisfaction as the man fell unconscious to the ground, technically its “Eight Directions Valley Avalanche”, but that’s a long name.

That left only the woman. The focused look on her face was not a good sign, a fear confirmed when she started to move through waterbender forms. Soo Zee barely had the time to register the tentacle of muddy liquid before it hit her. She reflexively solidified the mud around her ankles to avoid falling down, which gave her an idea. As the water returned to hit her, she bent the dirt in the tentacle and, splaying her fingers, directed it at the other woman. This caught her off guard, enough for Soo Zee to close the distance and grapple her, immobilising her arms.

“Who sent you”, Soo Zee asked, getting the expected venomous look. With her free hand she started to search the woman. She got hold of some small circular amulet or seal, when she heard a rather shy “Hey, is everything alright in there?”.

She recognized the voice and couldn’t believe her luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some more action this time, hope you'll like it :) Thanks to all readers!


	5. Chapter 5

Tealin usually did not mope, and he was unsure if the last two hours passed for moping. He disliked night shifts, as he usually went to bed early, and rose with the sun. That’s why he loved morning shifts - not because there were fewer customers (though those who remained were usually of either the obstinately sleepy or irritatingly obstinate sort), but because so much could be done around the inn. He knew every nook and cranny of the place, and he considered taking care of it his job as much waiting on his customers.

Perhaps that was why, having no other choice to busy himself, he was just folding his shirts a third time in a row. This almost made him not think about Ivetok’s date tonight.

He knew he was obsessing, but such knowledge rarely helped. Spirits, for all he knew this didn’t even have to be a date, just a meeting with a young female…. Even so, over the last hours, Tae gave this young girl a face, a biography, clothes, with a number of options at that.

Maybe she was from the North like Ivetok, and homesickness would turn friendship into a romance. They would spend time talking of home, only to decide to leave Sunny Rock for the northern ice fields.

Or maybe she was some assertive, domineering young woman, with smouldering Fire Nation eyes and a demanding voice. Ive was a perfect victim for someone like that, he was always so shy and timid, and looked up to extravert, cheerful people. Taelin loathed to admit that this attracted him to Ive in the first place, his looks of unbound admiration, his enthusiasm to anything he came up with… how he told him he wanted to be more like him…

… and now someone is going to steal him away, make him quit his job, his friends, just to show ownership…

Taelin took a few deep breaths to calm himself, but they barely helped. His mind raced, coming up with more and more bizarre scenarios, as if the four words Ivetok spoke could seed a forest of nightmares and anxieties. Its branches writhed within Tae, urging him to do something, anything, just not sit here alone. Not to _be_ alone…

He decided. He would talk to Ive, ask him about the girl, wish him good luck. Be supportive. He should have done that yesterday, not sulk and avoid him. If he left now, he could still catch him leaving the inn, maybe take his place a bit earlier to give him more time to prepare for the meeting.

Maybe tell him how he felt?

Packing his work clothes, Taelin bolted out of his small house. His hands were trembling, his knees were weak, but at least he had some purpose. Both acceptance and rejection were better than this anxious pressure in his chest.

The streets were not very crowded yet, but he decided to use a shortcut just in case. As he navigated the narrow spaces between buildings, he heard a familiar sound he would expect at construction sites, not here. Earthbending?

“Hey, is everything alright in there?” Taelin managed to speak. He wanted to shout loudly, to alert other in the vicinity, but it was surprisingly hard to make any sound at all. There was no answer, only a wet _thump_ of something heavy falling into the mud.  

As he rounded the corner to move towards the sound, he almost bumped into a woman stepping out of a secluded alleyway. Her face seemed vaguely familiar, she was panting, her clothes were disheveled, but what shocked him was the scene behind her. Four people lay in the mud, three unconscious, one whimpering and nursing an unnaturally bent arm.

“You should focus on me”, the woman said with a wicked, satisfied smile. Her eyes gleamed with amusement. Tae took a step back, she rose her arms in some form, and solid mud immobilized him. She moved closer, too close. He tried to recoil, fell on his behind into the mud. There was so much cultured aggression in the woman’s pose. He would know she could harm effortlessly even without the four figures behind her.

“Taelin, was it?” she asked maniacally, and without waiting for an answer continued.”I have great news! The Earth Queen has invited you to Lake Laogai!”


	6. Chapter 6

Ivetok knew very well that people liked the tea he made. What his fans did not know, was why. He once was confronted by a chef who wanted to know his secret. Is it a special kettle, he asked? Was it some special water? Surely he was not a firebender, using his skill to heat the water just right? He was certain the man had him followed at least once. The secret was, of course, Ivetok himself, and his waterbending skills. Small, precision movements were always his forte, to the point where he had problems with the more sweeping, offensive forms. He could create whirlpools in a cup at will, but needed to concentrate to make a larger wave. This made him a bad warrior, but a great cook.

Only today, on the night of the full moon, he dared not tap into his elemental skills. He should not even be here! Some part of him was concerned for Tae, he got no information why the tall man was absent, but Ivetok did all he could to keep his mind from wandering. He had to, to avert any tragedy.

The inn was bustling with activity; more, in fact, than usual, as some important construction was finished today, and at least two separate groups were celebrating. To his utter horror, they all seemed to want his signature fish soup and gallons of tea. So Ivetok made cup after cup, bowl after bowl, becoming more and more disassociated from reality...

… or rather more focused on what most ignored.

The whole inn was awash. Literally. The steam from the kitchen, the cups and bowls, the breaths of the customers, their sweat covering their skin, the heat from the mass of bodies, the spittle in the air as they laughed and talked and ate. Most would not even notice those details, but to Ivetok they filled the inn’s common room more than the people themselves. Which was a bad sign in and of itself. All who controlled the elements could fall into the trap of seeing them simply as a resource or weapon, of ignoring their spiritual importance. However, if you treated rocks as projectiles instead of elements of the foundation of reality, it was well and good. But if you treated people like meat-bag puppets…

_A dark room, the droning, purposeful voice of his grandmother, shouts of fighting outside…_

Ivetok barely suppressed the flashback, and poured more tea with shaking hands. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, that the the people he just served looked at him, and their cups, with a mixture of surprise and distaste. He was not his usual self, they expected better of him…

_“... the whole village expects much from you, my child. You need to guide them, to save them…”_ a stranger’s face spoke with the voice of his grandmother. Spoke the words he heard on that terrible night… Disregarding any etiquette, he wiped the sweat from his brow with his free hand, and moved to the storage room for more tealeaves. People gave him strange looks as he moved on shaking legs.

He entered the dark room, the noise outside faded, and he saw…

_… his grandmother ushered him in. He wanted to fight so badly, but his father insisted he hide with the old woman and protect her. The bandits came out of nowhere, using the full moon to help them navigate the icefields, no doubt._

_His grandmother told him to sit. He refused. He told her he wanted to fight with the men. She scoffed and told him to calm down. He moved to the door and couldn’t._

Ivetok froze, packs of tea falling from his hands. Clumsy. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure, female and slight, enter the room.

_… saw his grandmother, her arms raised, fingers splayed like the legs of a spider, like a puppeteer’s hands._

_“This is your first lesson, child. To learn how to control you must know how it feels.”_

_Ivetok couldn’t move. His muscles were not his own. He felt vulnerable, even the beat of his heart was not his. He lost his body, he was nothing. What was his mind worth, if he was unable to move his lips, if some other will pumped the air in his lungs._

_Lesson number one: The flesh is all._

_His grandmother moved closer and…_

...and Ivetok could suddenly move again. Defend himself! Fight back. With all his strength, his fear and anger and sorrow he struck at the woman next to him. She did not expect his blow, and her surprise caused him to hit. She crumpled to the ground, making jars fall from the shelves. It was only when someone came in, alerted by the noise, the light revealed the prone figure to be not Ivetok’s grandmother, but Zhi A.

“What in all hells are you doing, boy?” the owner of the inn asked. Even in the shadow of the doorway, his wrinkled face was contorted with anger, his stocky body standing between him, and the doorway and Zhi A. In shock, Ivetok could only stare, his mouth gaping. Before he managed to make any sound, the older man moved at him. Reflexively, Ivetok closed his eyes, raised his arms and awaited the blow…

  
… which never came. The young man opened his eyes, and _felt_ the innkeeper, realized, that he bloodbended to immobilize him mid blow. The man’s eyes were full of shock and contempt, and Ivetok was sure he knew exactly what he was. He pushed the man away from the doorway and, with tearful eyes, ran for the exit.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Zhi A was pensive. The last two days were peculiar enough to make her that. Nothing overtly bad had happened, true, but that would’ve been preferable. She would rather have a problem to tackle, not a mystery to solve. Now, she had a number of puzzle pieces, and she did not like they way they fit together. Ivetok had his full moon moods, but never this spectacular. Zhi A was a daughter of… educated parents. She heard the stories. She knew what it could mean if a watertribesman is afraid of the full moon. And, despite Ive’s best efforts, Zhi A was fairly sure he could waterbend.  _ Set a thief to catch a thief _ , she thought to herself with a bitter smile. 

Then there was Tae. For some time now Taelin looked at Ive with this particular mix of adoration and protectiveness. Ivetok reacted to this positively, though seemed totally clueless as to the nature of this affection. She disliked this situation, and disliked herself for thinking about meddling in it. But the tension between Ive and Tae was rising, and if left unchecked could consume the little home she crafted for herself within the inn. A stable hearth is difficult to maintain, her mother liked to say, you put in too much or too little, and it burns out quickly. 

Finally, though this might be her paranoia, Zhi A was still unnerved about the conversation with the strange woman that caught her arm the other day. So many little details screamed “danger” about it, and not only the physical contact. That was unpleasant, true, but could be caused by different upbringing. Earth Kingdom folk were all about hugging and patting on the back and holding hands, while her Fire Nation roots made her consider any physical contact something you do out of sight, amongst family, close friends or lovers. But that woman was different for some reason, and it took most of Zhi A’s control not to lash out at her… and the strange question about Ive was just added bonus.

So, when Taelin did not arrive when he should have, she expected trouble. She told Ive to go home early, something they usually did only when the replacement arrived, as throughout the day he looked more and more stressed out. This small act of kindness backfired very quickly, due to Tae’s absence. As people piled in, the owner was getting angrier and angrier. Zhi A did all she could to keep everything going smoothly, but people had to wait longer, and grew more and more irritated. And she couldn’t do anything apart from serving tea and meals as fast as she managed, trapped between the frustrated mumblings of her customers and her boss. 

So, when Ivetok suddenly arrived via the back door, face ashen, eyes red, eyelids puffy, Zhi A knew the evening would be disastrous….

* * *

Two hours later, Ivetok looked like a soldier in one of her father’s stories about the siege of Ba Sing Sae.  Regardless of the official version, he always admired general Iroh and fully believed in his strategy. However, to grind the walls of the great city, you needed rocks, not men. The length of the siege had its toll on the soldiers, and many of the general’s soldiers, her father’s men as well, cracked under the inexorable combination of stress and boredom. Some would drunk themselves into oblivion, some get into reckless fights with friend and foe alike, while some would simply… shut down.

Ivetok looked exactly like those from the last group. A dead man walking. He did his job, but poorly and with no initiative. His unfocused eyes stared into the distance, even when greeting new arrivals. His hands shook, he seemed to mumble to himself. Loud shouts visibly startled him, he seemed to hug himself or rub his thighs when he must’ve thought noone was looking. Unfortunately for him, everyone noticed. Patrons he served looked uncomfortably at him, whispered as he passed. The boss shot Zhi A inquiring looks, both concerned and angry. The latter became more frequent as the evening progressed. The woman could only turn her head, feigning ignorance.

When Ivetok entered the storage room and did not leave after a minute, Zhi A decided that was the moment to confront the man. As she entered the dark room, she noticed how uptight Ive was. A box of tea fell to his feet, as he glanced at her. He was suddenly shaking. The woman took a deep breath.

“Ivetok, you need to snap out of it”, Zhi A said as she took small, cautious steps toward him. “You have a job to do.”

“... not make me… you will not make me…”, she heard him mumble behind gritted teeth. This surprised her. Maybe he she was overreacting? Maybe he was just tired and worried about Tae? She was both surprised and ashamed how easily she put the missing man out of her mind…

“It’s ok, Ive, just a little longer, people are depending on you. Only you can…”, she stopped mid sentence as Ivetok lunged and her with a roar. They were the last words she heard as the blow knocked her out.

“I WILL NOT KILL THEM!”

* * *

As she came to, Zhi A heard sounds of commotion not far off. This was strange, she thought, her falling unconscious should not cause such alarm. Still, a nice thought. Her head hurt, but it rested on something soft and warm, something that made her feel relaxed… She opened her eyes, saw a face looking at her. Was it a concerned smile? To dark to tell. Was it a woman? Her mother? Impossible.Still, a nice thought. The face suddenly turned away, reacting to something, a different type of concern creeping on it. 

_ A silly thing to allow oneself to rest only after getting punched in the face… _ Zhi A thought as she fell asleep.

* * *

When she woke up again, her head was resting on a pillow and she was covered with a blanket. There was stillness, as if all the sounds were coming from far far away.  Slowly, she managed to get up on her elbows, to look around. Ivetok was nowhere in sight. This seemed important somehow, but Zhi A could not remember why. Something about danger… She took a deep breath and got on her knees. Her head swam, she wanted to vomit, but had nothing to vomit with. The caustic contents of her stomach burned her throat, but she managed to hold them down, to get to her feet. 

The inn was surprisingly empty. A table was upturned, one near the exit. Did Ive do this? Were the shouts from the outside people… doing what exactly? Fighting him? A lynch mob? But why. 

Any attempt to make sens ceased as the doors to the inn flung open, and two men carried Taelin inside. He looked terrible, face all bruised, with a bloodied nose and lip, but some part of Zhi A’s barely conscious brain told her his state is not as bad as it looks. She stood by the entrance to the storage room, and people mostly ignored her as they lay Tae on the table to tend to his injuries. Zhi A could not stop looking at his bruised body, there was something eerily fascinating in the patterns. Deliberate and efficient. She noticed that Tae was clutching something in his hand. As people removed his clothing to look for wounds, his grip relaxed to reveal a pendant of some sorts. A white flower? A lotus? Zhi A gasped in shock as she recognized the symbol. 

That was when she heard the sounds ice cracking, like thunder, and of a building coming apart. 


	8. Chapter 8

**An Interlude**

_Somewhere between the Fire Islands and the shores of the Earth Kingdom_

 

“We must be here as a punishment right?”

“...”

“And since I did nothing wrong, I just got plain unlucky being paired with you, right?”

“...”

“So… who did you piss off?”

“...”

“Hey! Don’t give me the silent treatment here. I would prefer to talk instead of dying out of boredom or wishing for a storm. Then at least we… hey? What are you doing stop that shit why the spirits TAKE YOU YOU BASTARD STOP ROCKING THE BOAT!!!”

“You wanted amusement, no?”

“Noooo, I wanted to talk!”

“By throwing tantrum and insults.”

“No hard feelings… but it worked though.”

“*sigh* You know its a vital mission right?”

“Yeah, kinda got this part when the Fire Lord’s uncle personally briefed us.”

“An you remember whom we are chasing?”

“Yea, the Lord’s girlfri… What? Everybody knows that.”

“Gossiping is a bad habit to have in our line of work, kid.”

“We are in the middle of an ocean!”

“The middle of an ocean is only one word away from a middle of a room.”  
“Very funny.”

“Do you see me laughing?”

“...”

“Good. Now. As for you question. I am here because the General trusts me… and because I pissed off some people in the Order. This is a crucial combination. He knows I will be discreet. We are to find and retrieve The. Avatar’s. Wife. At the same time, my enemies in the Order will happily think this is some sort of punishment and keep their eyes off me.”

“Ok, makes sense. What about me?”

“No clue.”

“WHAT!?!”

“Sorry, I honestly don’t know, kid. Could be two things.”

“...?”

“You’re either promising or expendable.”

“... shit.”

“Yeah, but no worries. So am I.”

* * *

“What are you doing?”

“Waterbending”

“I see that, but why?”

“Sensing her.”

“You can do that?”

“If you are creative. Shouldn’t you be fishing?”

“You must be scaring them away. Creative how?”

“Sensing bending. Not many waterbenders off the coast of the Earth Kingdom, so that combined with our intelligence should lead us to her.”

“So she’s going to the colonies?”

“Republic City.”

“Whatever.”

“Kid, you want to be promising, not expendable, right? So learn to think before you speak…”

“Ok ok… But if so, what is she after? She must know the Avatar’s not there?”

“She’s not after Aang…”

“Who then?”

“No idea.”

“Well, nobody’s perfect… Ha! caught us some dinner!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little experiment in form. And a widening of perspective. Hope you'll like it :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

This really _is_ a shit plan, Soo Zee thought as she waited outside the “Bent Beam”. Not only did it involve confronting a bloodbender _during_ the full moon, it also stipulated that said bloodbender should be angry and desperate… But she was Dai Li, and one of them must have once said “Hey, I know! Lets mind control people be rotating candles in their faces!”. Crazy does not mean it won’t work...

As she sat on a roof overlooking the tavern, she allowed her mind to wander, to think on past events, on how princess Azula took power, creating a rift within the organization. Soo Zee was just recently elevated to the rank of agent, and she stood with those who sided with the last Fire Lord’s daughter out of loyalty for her comrades, not for the spiteful noble.

After that, it was just a kaleidoscope of coups and betrayals, smoke and mirrors. She still could not even explain it to herself, it made her head spin. For five years she was technically a loyal Dai Li operating in the field, but also an exile, hunted by the law. Her cell, supposedly like many others, had an “understanding” with the main part of the organization: no one came after them, and they received and carried their orders in secret. The alternative would mean official trails, which would mean dozens of agents’ covers being blown, a blow to Ba Sing Se a naive idealist like Avatar Aang could not understand.

“And now my frustration with my job led me to make suicidal, grandiose plans!” she exclaimed to a pidgeon passing her. _Perhaps I want Ivetok to end me_ , she thought grimly to herself, and adjusted her backpack, _either way, I’ll be leaving this awful mudhole today_. She looked at the full moon, and focused on her plan again.

* * *

All in all, Soo Zee was impressed. Ivetok lasted three hours in the “Bent Beam”, when she gave him one tops; especially given how distressed he looked when arriving. The commotion inside, however, meant her plan did work. The young man burst out of the tavern, running blind into the muddy streets. The agent could almost see his thoughts, how he instinctively sought a place to hide, like a cornered beast. Her smile widened, more so when she saw a mixture of confusion, hate, and apprehension on their faces.

 _Good_ , she thought, _they must’ve seen him using his bloodbending. All according to plan._

Ivetok ran through the streets, and the agent followed, jumping from roof to roof, waiting for the boy to reach the outskirts of the town, until he gets tired. At one point, Soo Zee considered revealing herself as some Earth Kingdom official to the people here, gaining their trust, support and compounding the bloodbender’s alienation, but gossip could reach ears of those she preferred would forget her, so stealth it was. She panted, barely catching her breath, and jumped down from a roof. _Scared prey does not care for its own wellbeing_ , she thought wryly.

The pursuer and her quarry reached a part of town that was still in construction - new houses for new workers needed to realize Republic City’s grand design. As Ivetok slowed down, Soo Zee counted to eight, took and deep breath.

“You can stop running now, they’re gone!”, she shouted. The boy turned, both scared and confused by her words. His face was red from exertion, and crying. He attempted to speak, but what came out were wheezes and coughs.

“Who are you…?”, Ivetok finally managed.

“My name is Soo Zee, and I need you help”. _Why lie, when truth is as effective_? This confused him even more, he tensed, his eyes started to dart around, getting his bearings. The agent knew her time was limited - either he will calm himself enough to fight, or the townspeople will catch up to them.

“I know you have a specific skill”, she continued. watching in satisfaction as her words made him cringe. “I can help you use this skill for good.” _Now or never, kid_ , she thought, _what will win? Self-loathing or self-preservation?_ She saw he was tired, stressed, hurting, he had no energy for flight reactions anymore, so what remained was…

Soo Zee held out her hand towards him in a welcoming, comforting gesture. She moved a step, he took a step back. She moved another step, imitating a motherly smile. He froze. One more step… One more…

She saw him subconsciously assume a waterbending position, and was ready. As his hands moved, and a pillar of ice emerged from the mud in front of her, she stomped the ground with her left foot, dispersed the dirt in the ice to break it. The pillar was man-sized, but it cracked with a sound like thunder, surprisingly loud. Heedless of the shower of frozen fragments, she moved forward, stomping her other foot to hurl a ball of mud at Ivetok. The boy deflected with a spray of water, imitating her own technique. Soo Zee repeated her attack, but this time was ready for the counter.

The ball of mud caught the boy straight in the chest, knocking him over. For a moment, tha agent though the fight was over, but then Ivetok spun around, still on all-fours, and a tentacle of muddied water sprang out in front of him. Soo Zee caught the dirt in the water, her hands moving in fast, short motions just as Ivetok’s flowed around him gracefully. The tentacle whirled around them, over their heads, catching some of the scaffolding, bringing it down with a crashing sound.

 _Too much attention_ , Soo Zee thought angrily, as she saw one of the unfinished buildings slightly tilt, its wall cracking. She took a breath at attempted to keep the muddy water in one place.

The two benders stood like that for a few heartbeats, the tentacle between them slowly becoming two elemental appendages, as earth separated itself from water, only to merge again, blocking each other’s movements, gleaming in the light of the full moon. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the agent whipped with her tentacle at Ivetok. The boy fell, the tower of water in front of him dissolved.

Soo Zee fell to her knees, exhausted. After a few deep breaths, she reached to her backpack for some rope. She moved to Ivetok, began to restrain him, hauled him to her shoulder and shuffled slowly away from the town, not looking at the unfinished building toppling down behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long hiatus, its time to leave Sunny Rock town behind!

**Author's Note:**

> First attempt at fanfiction, mostly with original characters, though some know faces may come up. Loosely canonical, hopefully nothing terrible will happen!


End file.
